Some Democrats Play “One Upmanship” with Bush Administration on Illegal Alien Giveaway

FAIR ^ | January 29, 2004 | FAIR staff

[yoe]

American Workers in Every Sector of the Economy Will Watch Their Jobs Go to Foreign Workers, Says FAIR

(Washington, DC -- January 29, 2004)
“The immigration proposal touted by the Democrats yesterday is an outright assault on fundamental fairness, the rule of law, and on all working Americans, advocating a blanket amnesty for every illegal alien in the country,” says the Federation for American Immigration Reform. FAIR accused some of the Democrats in Congress of “playing one upmanship” with the Bush immigration proposal and turning their backs on the 9 million unemployed Americans currently seeking jobs and legal immigrants whose admission will be delayed while millions of illegal aliens are granted amnesty.

“It’s amazing that the party which portrays itself as the friend of working Americans is in a foot race with the Bush Administration to give foreign workers unimpeded access to every job in every sector of our economy,” commented Dan Stein, FAIR’s Executive Director. Stein noted that the Democrats’ plan not only takes the cap off of the admission of foreign guestworkers, it allows them to remain in the U.S. permanently and bring in their distant relatives while offering a clear path to citizenship.

Stein pointed out that the Bush Administration plan and the Democrats’ alternative drives home the fact that both plans “are completely out of touch with the demands of the American public, which has been demanding much less, not more immigration, for more than 3 decades.”

Both plans are being championed as ways to deal with chronic illegal immigration and the national security problems that arise from having millions of people in the country who have never had criminal or terrorist background checks. Stein urged both parties to commit to enforcing current immigration laws and resist pressures from special interest groups and big business to open the country to limitless immigration. Instead, Stein urged Congress to pass the SAFER ACT, sponsored by Gresham Barrett (R-SC), which would:

Secure the border against illegal immigration and terrorism by beefing up the border patrol and cracking down on alien smuggling; Enhance interior enforcement of our immigration laws; Better screen aliens seeking admission to the U.S. Expedite procedures for the removal of terrorists and criminal aliens from the U.S.; Streamline the immigration process by suspending further renewal of temporary protected status and suspend approval of adjustment of status applications for certain immigrants; End chain migration by eliminating the extended family visa categories; “The laws have been on the books for decades to stop illegal immigration in its tracks. What has been lacking is the leadership, determination and courage of our elected officials to place the security of the country and the economic viability of the American family, ahead of party politics and shameless pandering,” said Stein.

[Montfort]

Why don't they just save all the travel time and paperwork, cut out the coyote middlemen, and grant US citizenship to every Mexican. And they can keep their Mexican citizenship, too. That way, they can come up here and vote to redistribute taxpayer money from US to Mexico, then go home and cash the checks. That way, they will not even have to do any of the hard work our current exploitative system has had them do.

Now I've done it. Some politician will think this is a great idea and propose it.

[Erik Latranyi]

I see strategery at work here.

Bush goes out and proposes a modest temporary worker program that will not see the light of day as legislation. This attempt to win the Hispanic vote forces your opponents to propose the most extreme blanket amnesty program imaginable.

[WayneM]

Why make them come here to vote and enjoy citizenship. There are a certain number of rich Mexicans, Columbians, Chinese, etc. who really have no desire to travel.

They could obtain mail-order citizenship, use the absentee ballot, and alway have a place to go if things fell apart in the homeland.

[meenie]

I see an escalation of the contest by the members of both parties to see which can sell out the United States faster. Isn't abandonment of principle and reversion to political opportunism wonderful?

[FITZ]

The democrats have a clear advantage here because democrat voters tend to be pretty dumb. They can be convinced that millions of low-skilled foreigners can be brought in and given citizenship AND there can be plenty of jobs for low-skilled Americans AND we can send the jobs to China to keep prices low.

[swampfox98]

Secure the border against illegal immigration and terrorism by beefing up the border patrol and cracking down on alien smuggling.

Over to FR's History page! where it will never be read again.